In a pre-trial hearing at the Taiwan High Court yesterday, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his attorneys said certain key evidence and witness statements should not be admissible in court.
Chen and his attorneys appeared at the appeals court where judges are reviewing the guilty verdicts the Taipei District Court handed the former president, his family members, former government officials and other co-defendants.
On Sept. 11 this year, district court judges handed life sentences to Chen and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), and fined the couple NT$500 million (US$16 million).
THREATS
Chen’s attorneys, Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍) and Shih Yi-ling (石宜琳), told the court that certain evidence prosecutors considered key should not be considered valid in court.
For example, video footage of the questioning of former Hsinchu Science Park head James Lee (李界木) showed prosecutors telling Lee that if he did not tell the truth, he would “die a horrible death” and “lose all of his wealth” when investigators looked into his bank accounts.
Chen’s attorneys also dismissed testimony given by former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), who said that the former president could not have been unaware that his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) accepted allegedly inappropriate donations from businesses. Such statements were conjecture and should not count as valid evidence, the attorneys said.
ALLEGED BRIBERY
In his defense, the former president insisted on his innocence, saying that he knew nothing about former Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓公司) chairwoman Diana Chen’s (陳敏薰) alleged bribing of his wife.
Chen Shui-bian also used President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) special funds case to illustrate his point that if Ma was found innocent of misusing special funds during his term as Taipei Mayor, then he should also be acquitted of embezzlement charges because the presidential “state affairs fund” is similar to the mayor’s special fund.
Chen Shui-bian and his attorneys talked at length and the High Court judges more than once urged them to keep their arguments brief to allow the court to get through the pre-trial hearings efficiently.
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